All I Want for Christmas: Cole's Dream
by The Mayor of Ninjago City
Summary: The earth ninja has a dream in which he and his love interest, a cute college girl named Brooke, go Christmas shopping at a department store in Ninjago City. What happens in the dream? This story is a part of the "The Fire Within" series, which was originated by measuremesky. She gave me permission to use her material. She has since deleted her story All I Want for Christmas.
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **This short story is based on the fanfic** _ **All I Want for Christmas**_ **, which is authored by measuremesky and can be found on this website. The story** _ **All I Want for Christmas**_ **focuses on a Christmas shopping excursion taken by the five ninja brothers and the girlfriends of three of them. My story narrates a dream that Cole might have had later that night, in which he imagines shopping with his girlfriend Brooke at Hayward's, a fancy department store in downtown Ninjago City. Measuremesky, who is a family member of mine, gave me permission to use her material.**

 **Chapter 1**

 _Cole fell asleep that night with a smile on his face, happy that he got to spend some time with his girlfriend Brooke today on a Christmas shopping adventure which included his ninja brothers and Nya and Sam. He began to dream..._

Browsing in the furniture department of Hayward's, one of Ninjago City's fanciest department stores, was not Cole's first choice in spending his time. However, he was doing it because his girlfriend, Brooke, wanted to search for a suitable end table as a possible Christmas gift for her parents. The Dawsons lived in a town about three hours away from Ninjago City, and their furniture stores did not have the wide variety of styles that stores in the big metropolis did. Brooke, a student at Ninjago University, was taking advantage of her proximity to Hayward's to examine their table offerings.

Cole checked the watch he wore on his left arm as he held onto the silky smooth hand of the lovely willowy brunette on his right. "We have twenty minutes till we meet the rest of the team at the food court," he informed her.

All five ninja brothers and the girlfriends of three of them - Nya, Sam, and Brooke - had come to visit Hayward's today for the purpose of browsing for ideas about what they could give as Christmas gifts to the people they wanted to shop for. For a while they had walked around the store as one whole group, but then they decided to split up, arranging to reconvene at a predetermined time. Cole and Brooke went up to the eighth floor of the store.

"I know you think furniture shopping is boring," Brooke replied, squeezing her boyfriend's hand. "You wanna go sit down on that recliner in front of that TV while I see what they have here?" She pointed to a oversize luxurious leather recliner.

Cole looked to where she was pointing. "Not a bad idea," he grinned.

"Hello, may I help you find something today?" a pleasant voice interrupted them. It belonged to the saleswoman, who appeared to be in her late 20s.

"Hi! Yeah, I'm looking for an end table for my parents," Brooke answered.

The saleswoman smiled. "End tables are generally with living room furniture, which is over beyond the beds. Let me walk you over there."

Cole let go of Brooke's hand so she could follow the woman while he walked over to the inviting brown chair and sat in it. It was the kind of chair which came with an electronic controller that activated the power reclining mechanism, an internal seat heater, and a built-in massager.

"Sweet!" the earth ninja said out loud as he tested the capabilities of the recliner. The furniture department was quickly becoming his favorite one at Hayward's. Not only did it have high-tech furniture, but its location - on the eighth floor of the building, far away from the frantic crowds on the lower levels - made it seem like an oasis in the middle of the city.

There were no other customers around, so Cole picked up the nearby remote control to the TV and flipped channels until he found a sports program that looked interesting.

"How are we doing here?" the saleswoman said, surprising him as she walked up to where he sat.

"Oh, uh, fine. Just waiting for my girlfriend over there," he replied, gesturing toward Brooke, who he could see was browsing about thirty yards away.

"Well, if you have any questions about this recliner or the TV, my name is Anne, so please feel free to ask."

"Uh, OK. Thanks, Anne."

Anne walked over to her nearby desk and sat down to take care of some paperwork. Cole began to get absorbed in the sports program on the TV in front of him.

However, because the furniture department was so quiet, Cole's attention was drawn away from the TV when a new customer approached. Actually, Cole wondered if the guy was actually a customer. A scruffy looking man - dressed in faded jeans, a dusty leather jacket, and a T-shirt with holes - approached the saleswoman. He looked to be in his late 20s.

Anne quickly stood up from her desk when she spotted him. "What are you doing here, Jerry?" she tersely asked him.

"Annie, baby, I came to talk to you here at your work, since I don't know how to reach you at that new apartment you moved to," he said.

"Don't call me Annie, Jerry. And you need to leave now. My supervisor will be back from her break any minute."

Jerry placed his hand on her desk. "Anne, please come back to me. I'll be a better boyfriend. I promise."

"Too late, Jerry. I've had it with you."

Cole became uncomfortable with having to overhear this private conversation. He pushed the electronic controller of the recliner to force the leg rest down, then he got up and went in search of Brooke.

He found her. "You about ready to go, babe? 'Cause I am," he announced. "The saleswoman over there is having an argument with her ex-boyfriend."

Brooke looked over at the arguing ex-couple. "I can see why he's an ex," she commented.

Then she sighed. "I guess we can go now, anyway. I think I'm going to have to ask my mom for some more details about what kind of end table she wants. But first," she said, ruefully smiling, "I have to use the ladies' room."

The women's restroom was not far from Anne's desk. Cole rolled his eyes. He'd have to pass by the couple again.

"OK, I'll wait by the recliner I was in," he grumbled.

They walked back and Cole sat on the edge of the recliner while Brooke entered the ladies' room. The argument was getting more heated.

"So why'd you pick the time right before Christmas to leave?" Jerry whined to Anne. "I'll be alone."

Anne crossed her arms. "Shoulda thought of that before you became such a jerk!"

Just then, an older woman in her 40s arrived. Cole could tell she was Anne's supervisor. "Everything OK here?" she asked.

"Hi, Betty. Yeah, he was just leaving. I'll be back in a minute after I use the restroom." Anne turned and purposefully strode toward the restroom door, past the seated Cole.

Jerry followed her. "Anne, Anne, wait. Anne, listen to me. I need you. Anne, listen!" Anne kept going.

Cole decided it was time to intervene. He got up to follow Jerry.

When Anne reached the entrance of the multi-stall facility for ladies, she grasped the handle and opened the door, planning to seek refuge from the man who was bothering her.

But to the horror of Cole and Betty, Jerry suddenly pulled out a small handgun from his jeans pocket and pushed her in front of him as they both went in.

Jerry, his voice echoing from inside the bathroom, yelled, "NOW you're gonna listen to me!" Then a gunshot rang out.


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Thanks to Princess Bunny, Guest, lovesgod12, and FirstFandomFangirl (I recognize your ~FFF signature) for commenting on Chapter 1! And thanks to my two favers and three followers!**

 **Cole's dream continues...**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 _Still sleeping, Cole rolled over and continued dreaming…_

Two women's screams echoed from the inside of the ladies' room.

"Brooke!" Cole shouted as he ran the rest of the distance to the restroom door.

"Cole!" Brooke's voice called back to her boyfriend, terror in her voice.

Cole felt relief that she sounded unharmed by the gunshot. _What about Anne?_ he wondered.

"Shut up or I'll use this on you!" Jerry growled, obviously directing his command at Brooke.

Betty grabbed the receiver from the phone on Anne's desk and pushed a button. "Security!" she hollered. "Come quick to Furniture! There's a man with a gun in the women's restroom!"

Cole reached the restroom door, clutching either side of the door frame to stop his forward momentum. He was reluctant to barge in. He didn't care if Jerry shot at him, but he did not want to further endanger the ladies.

"Let them go, Jerry!" Cole commanded.

"Well, I guess we're on a first-name basis now, Cole," Jerry sneered, using the name he had just heard Brooke call out.

"Jerry, why are you being so stupid?" Anne wailed. "Can't you just move on with your life? I did!"

To Cole, Anne sounded unhurt by the gunshot, so Jerry apparently had just fired the shot into the air.

"You know, Jerry, the end of a relationship isn't the end of the world," Cole called through the door.

"What do you know about that? You look like the kind of guy that hot babes throw themselves at all the time," Jerry retorted. "You got a hot babe with you right now!"

Cole couldn't argue about Brooke being beautiful.

"Look, Jerry, why don't you let me come in so we don't have to keep talking through the door." Besides wanting to talk the guy into giving up, Cole also wanted to get in there and protect his beloved girlfriend and the saleswoman.

"What are you doing?!" a voice quietly hissed from behind him. Cole turned around to see a department store security guard standing behind him. "The police will handle the situation when they get here!"

"Who's there with you, Cole? The police?" Jerry demanded to know. Cole then heard Brooke and Anne cry out in fear. Jerry must have pointed the gun at them.

Alarmed, Cole thought fast. "The police aren't here yet, Jerry. If you let me in, I can be another hostage that you can use as a bargaining chip."

Jerry didn't say anything for a minute. _What's he doing?!_ Cole frantically wondered.

Finally, Jerry spoke. "Fine. Come in. But put your hands over your head and don't try anything funny, or else your hot babe won't be so hot!"

"OK, here I come," Cole called out as he pulled open the door and raised his hands as he entered. The door slowly closed again on its own once he was in.

Jerry greeted Cole by shoving the handgun in his face. The gunman's other arm was wrapped around Brooke's neck, as he had dragged her over to the door with him in order to greet Cole. The fear in her hazel eyes was plainly visible.

Cole looked around for a brief moment. It was weird to be in a ladies' restroom, but it did seem nicer than a men's room.

"Come on! Come on!" Waving the gun, Jerry directed Cole over to the far side of the room, where Anne was sitting on the tile floor with her back against the wall, underneath an opaque-paned window. "Keep your hands over your head and sit down next to Anne!"

Once Cole had done what he was told, Jerry let go of Brooke and shoved her in Cole's direction. She scrambled to sit on the floor on the other side of her boyfriend, whereupon she tightly held onto his waist.

"Mind if I put my hands down now?" the black-clad ninja asked. Upon receiving an affirmative answer from the gunman, Cole was able to put his arm around Brooke's shoulders to comfort her.

Now that he was face to face with Jerry, Cole took a deep breath before resuming their conversation. "I know you won't believe me, Jerry, but I HAVE been in a relationship that didn't work out. And it hurt. A lot."

Cole noticed Brooke's look of puzzlement. "I know I've never told you this before, babe," he said to her, giving her shoulders a squeeze, "and I was gonna talk to you about it sooner or later. Now I guess it'll be sooner than later."

He swallowed. "For a while, I had a thing with Nya."

"Nya?" Brooke exclaimed incredulously.

Cole looked away. "Yeah. It happened a couple of years ago when the guys and I were working as teachers. She started paying a lot of attention to me and, well, I liked it."

"And then what happened?" the brunette asked, still shocked.

"Well, Jay got really upset," Cole recalled, "'cause he thought I was trying to steal her from him-"

"She and Jay were together then, too?" Brooke's eyes widened.

Cole nodded. "Things were pretty tense for a while. I finally realized that even though Nya was, and is, a great gal, my need for a relationship with her wasn't worth ruining my friendship with Jay or messing up our team unity. So I backed off."

"But, you know," he continued, gazing into her hazel eyes, "even though I was hurting inside for a long time, everything turned out OK, 'cause eventually Kai met Sam, and they got you and me together, and I've been happy ever since!" He gave her shoulders another squeeze.

Despite their currently precarious circumstances, Brooke smiled. "I'm happy that Sammie and Kai got us together, too," she murmured.

Jerry, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, finally spoke. "Wow. Your life sounded almost as messed up as mine, but you found yourself a new girl. Maybe there is hope for me, too." His demeanor became a little more relaxed.

"Christmas IS the season of hope, dude," Cole reminded him.

Suddenly the sound of a bullhorn from outside the restroom startled them all.

"Jerry! This is Lieutenant Benjamin Pierce of the Ninjago City Police Department! Can you hear me?"

Jerry tensed up. Though he felt more optimistic about his prospects for a future relationship, he was realizing that he'd have to face consequences for breaking the law. "I hear you!" he shouted.

"Give yourself up peacefully, and let us get you the help you need," the lieutenant urged.

"Let me think about it," Jerry called back.

"You should do it, Jerry," Anne urged.

"I need some air," Jerry announced. "Open the window, Cole."

With the gun pointed at him, Cole let go of Brooke as he slowly stood up and turned around to face the window. The method for opening it was not readily apparent.

"Hurry up!" Jerry commanded.

"I'm trying! I'm trying!" Cole waved his arms in frustration.

After a minute, he located the lock, disengaged it, and lifted the sash. Cold winter air began to fill the room. Jerry, Brooke, and Cole were wearing their winter coats, but Anne was not. She folded her arms across her chest for warmth.

"Anne, go in a stall and lock the door," Jerry told her.

"Why?" the saleswoman asked with suspicion.

"Do it!" Jerry yelled.

Anne did as he said.

"You," he nodded toward Brooke, "stand up." She nervously complied.

"Cole, put your girl on the fire escape."

"What?!"

"You heard me! Do it!" Jerry barked, waving the gun.

Cole turned to Brooke. "It'll be OK, babe," he assured her. With the window sill being at the height of her shoulder, he scooped her up bridal-style in his strong, capable arms and lifted her up to the sill.

"Swing your legs outside, then take hold of my hands and I'll lower you down till your feet touch the fire escape grate," he instructed her. In another minute, Brooke was standing on the fire escape, just as Jerry had ordered.

"OK, Cole, put your hands over your head again and move away from the window."

Cole suddenly realized what the gunman was planning to do: evade the police by climbing down the fire escape, taking Brooke with him as a hostage.

"Look, Jerry," the earth ninja quickly spoke, trying one last time to persuade the criminal to surrender. "Why don't you just turn yourself in now, before you rack up any more charges against you. That way, you'll get out of prison sooner and you can start looking around for a nice girl to share the rest of your life with."

The bullhorn interrupted them.

"Jerry! Is everything all right in there?" Lieutenant Pierce asked.

"I need another few minutes to think!" Jerry shouted back. Then, to Cole he hissed, "I said to move away from the window!"

With the gun pointed at him, Cole slowly complied.

"It's been nice talking to you, Cole," Jerry said as he walked backward toward the window. "But I gotta run! Goodbye forever, Anne!" he called out to his former girlfriend in the stall.

With that, Jerry hoisted himself through the window and disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Many thanks to all the readers of this story, and thanks to lovesgod12, Princess Bunny, and FirstFandomFangirl for commenting on Chapter 2! Chapter 3 below concludes this story, but please look for my cowboy tale,** _ **The Fire Within a Ninjago Soldier**_ **, to which I plan to add a new chapter each Monday.**

 **Merry Christmas to all!**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 _Cole kept dreaming, switching his sleeping position so that he was now on his back..._

"He's gone, Anne! You can come out!" Cole shouted to the saleswoman in the stall as he ran out the restroom door.

 _Maybe running wasn't a good idea_ , he thought as he entered the main furniture area and faced a line of police officers, all pointing their weapons at him.

"Hands up!" one officer said. His voice sounded like the voice on the bullhorn. _He must be Lieutenant Pierce,_ Cole guessed.

"Wait!" Betty shouted from behind the line of police. "He's not the gunman!"

Cole motioned to the restroom door, from which Anne had just emerged. "Yeah! The guy went down the fire escape and took my girlfriend hostage!"

With the new bit of information Cole just provided, the officers sprang into action. Some hurried out of the furniture department, some ran into the restroom, and some came up to talk to the earth ninja, but he had other plans which did not include standing around and talking.

"I'm going to save her!" he yelled back at them as he ran out of the furniture department and toward the escalator. There was no time to waste. That scumbag had just taken away the wonderful girl who had brought him so much happiness these last few months, and Cole wasn't about to let the guy hurt one hair on her head. So Cole planned to reach the bottom of the fire escape before they did, in order to introduce that creep to the earth ninja's fist.

The downward escalators happened to be empty, going down to the seventh and the sixth floors, so Cole could navigate three steps at a time. But then he encountered some people going down the escalators to the fifth and fourth floors from there, as the building was being quietly evacuated.

"Excuse me! Pardon me!" he apologized as he hurriedly passed them by.

On the fourth floor, he could see that the downward escalators were quite full of people at that point and he really couldn't shoulder his way past them. So to bypass them, he stepped onto the railing and nimbly surfed past the escalator riders down to the third floor and again down to the second floor, where he then jumped off the railing.

Cole spotted Kai and Sam in the crowd. They were leaving the jewelry department.

 _What were they shopping for in that area?_ he wondered.

He had no time to dwell on that, however, for he was haphazardly forming a plan in his mind, and he was going to need both of them to help carry it out.

Like a salmon swimming upstream, Cole struggled to move in the opposite direction of the exiting throng of people to reach his teammate and his girlfriend.

"Guys!" Cole greeted them upon reaching them. "Come with me to the ladies' room! I'll explain on the way!"

"Um, Cole," Kai began as he grabbed Sam's hand and guided her in their quest to keep pace with the earth ninja as they headed to the second floor women's restroom. "There's something wrong with what you just said, but first, did you hear the building is being evacuated? I heard there was a hostage situation up on the eighth floor, in the furniture area."

"Yeah! Brooke and I and a saleswoman were the hostages, and now the jerk is taking Brooke down the fire escape!"

"Oh, no!" Sam gasped. She became frightened at the plight of her university roommate.

"I've got a plan to save her. We're gonna stop him from reaching the ground," Cole puffed, just slightly out of breath from the constant hustling, as they reached the restroom. "Sam, can you see if any ladies are in there?"

Sam ducked in and returned a few seconds later. "It's empty."

"Good. Now, come in here with me, Kai, 'cause you and I-"

"Go into a LADIES' room?" Kai incredulously asked.

"Yes!" Cole exasperatedly answered, grabbing his teammate's arm and dragging him in as Sam followed. "I figure Brooke and that dirtbag haven't made it down this far yet, 'cause fire escape stairs can seem flimsy, and he's gotta help Brooke climb down as well as climb down himself."

Cole strode over to the window and opened it - now that he knew how - as he continued. "So we're gonna hide under the fire escape stairs leading to this floor and wait for him. I'll tackle him and you grab Brooke."

Kai objected. "You don't think I'm strong enough to tackle him, big guy? I think I should tackle him and you should grab Brooke."

"Fine. But let's hurry."

While the men climbed out the window, Kai suggested to Sam that she evacuate the building. She assured him that she would and that she would keep herself safe, then wished them good luck, and gave Kai a good-luck kiss, before she closed the window after them so that Jerry would not suspect anything was amiss.

The ninja brothers perched themselves on a hidden underpinning of the fire escape stairs between the third and second floors, and they waited. They observed that more and more police cars were arriving and parking along the street. The officers that got out were positioning themselves behind their squad cars and aiming their guns at...the fire escape.

"Maybe I should have thought this out more carefully," Cole ruefully whispered.

"Ya think?" Kai chided him in a return whisper.

But they had no more time to argue, for they could hear the metal clang of footsteps above them. Soon they could hear Brooke's wails of fear as Jerry unceremoniously yanked her, step by step, down the flimsy stairs.

"Move faster, girl!" they heard him growl at his hostage.

Cole's eyes narrowed at the treatment his girl was receiving at the hands of that jerk.

The gunman and his captive reached the third floor landing, almost to the point where Cole and Kai could pounce on them. But then the footsteps stopped.

Except for Brooke's rapid breathing, the ninja brothers heard only silence for a minute, until Jerry said, "Change in plans, girl. We're going back up, this time to the roof." The multitude of police cars obviously made him nervous.

Cole's eyes widened. His plan was foiled.

But he was not about to let that scumbag take the hazel-eyed beauty up to the roof. The options for rescuing her would be severely limited there.

Cole signaled to Kai, and on a silent count of three, the earth ninja and the fire ninja swung themselves agilely from their hiding place up to where Jerry and Brooke stood on the third floor fire escape landing.

"Surprise, Jerry!" Cole shouted, drawing back his fist and punching the criminal in the jaw. Even though Kai was supposed to be the one walloping Jerry, Cole couldn't resist one smack.

Jerry staggered but did not fall down, however, so Kai was going to have his chance at doing some pummeling. Cole planned to come back and help him, if he still needed help by then. But first, the black-clad ninja grabbed the waist of his favorite brunette, her mouth still open in amazement at seeing him.

"Hold on to my neck!" he told her. He held her tight as he nimbly leaped from the third floor landing to the second floor landing.

Then, as Cole was jumping from the second floor landing to the ground, a gunshot rang out. In the struggle between Kai and Jerry for the gun, the weapon had discharged.

A searing pain erupted in his lower leg, so instead of hitting the ground upright while avoiding a large Christmas decoration hung on the storefront, they crashed into the decoration and knocked it over before he crumpled to the sidewalk, landing on his back with Brooke falling on top of him.

Cole looked up at her, trying not to show pain. "Are you OK, Brooke?"

"Oh, sweetie, I'm fine! Are you OK?" Brooke scrambled off him to kneel by his side. She cupped his face with her hands, looking at him worriedly.

Cole bit his lip to help cope with his pain. "Well, not totally OK, but I'll get through it, with your help," he smiled weakly, reaching up to guide a loose tendril of her brown hair behind her ear.

He felt something in her hair behind her head. Retrieving it, he held it close to his face and studied it. It apparently had come from the storefront Christmas decoration. He began to laugh.

"What's the matter?" Brooke asked him, clearly puzzled.

"It's mistletoe!" he exclaimed.

Her expression of puzzlement turned into a smirk. "And your point is…?" she teased.

"Come here, babe!" he grinned invitingly.

She lowered her face to his and their lips touched. They had exchanged many kisses since they began their relationship, but today, on a day when they both faced the barrel of a gun, her kiss was especially exquisite.

"You're all I want for Christmas," he murmured as their lips parted.

Brooke sat back on her heels, smiling at him as she took the hand of her hero into hers.

Cole became aware that all sorts of sirens were sounding. To him, the police sirens indicated that Kai had done his job of subduing that creep, and the guy was now being transported to a holding cell in the downtown police station. The ambulance siren indicated that medical help was coming for him.

The emergency personnel came and put him on a stretcher. As they loaded him into the ambulance, Cole realized he was still holding the mistletoe, but he wanted to give it to Brooke.

"Brooke, take this!" he called.

"I can't quite reach it!" she called back.

Cole stretched out his arm farther, and farther...and then there was a crash...

 _Cole woke up to find himself on the floor of a dark room. The bedroom he shared with his brothers. It was the middle of the night._

 _Cole realized he had been dreaming. He guessed he had rolled out of his bed as he dreamed he was stretching out his arm._

 _He climbed back in his lower bunk. He couldn't decide if he would classify his dream as a bad one, because of the scary stuff, or a not-so-bad one, because it ended with everyone being safe, and he even got one of Brooke's sweet kisses._

 _One thing was for sure, he told himself as he fell back asleep. The next time they decided to go shopping at Hayward's Department Store, he was definitely going to avoid the eighth floor!_

 _**** The End ****_


End file.
